Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Posted by Peisun Wu, Checkout Engineering Team

Since launching Checkout last summer, we've been working hard to extend it to new merchants and buyers. Last month, for example, we took a big step forward by making Checkout available to merchants in the UK. Now we're taking our first step toward making Checkout available on a whole new platform: mobile.

Existing Google Checkout buyers are now able to make fast, secure purchases on their mobile phones from any WAP–enabled Checkout merchant. The Checkout experience has a couple differences in the mobile world -- for example, buyers verify their identity with a PIN rather than with their full Google login -- but generally it's the same secure and convenient experience that's offered on the desktop.

On the merchant side, US and UK Checkout merchants who have mobile-friendly sites can now offer their customers a fast and secure way to shop online while on the go. Existing merchants who have a WAP-enabled site can now use Google Checkout for mobile with no changes, and when new merchants perform a standard Google Checkout merchant integration, the mobile functionality will be implemented automatically.

We're just starting to explore the possibilities for Checkout on this new platform. As more people and businesses engage with the web via mobile devices, we'll be adding further functionality to Checkout for mobile in order to help users buy the things they need quickly and securely, anytime and anywhere.